Many people have heard about the current conflict between Israel and Hamas, but not everyone knows the details or background of the situation. A quick summary of Israel and Palestine’s convoluted history starts during the rise of Hitler.
The region that Israel and Palestine occupied previously consisted mostly of Muslims and Christians, but many Jews immigrated there during the Holocaust. The region was divided into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. Zionists (Jewish nationalists in Israel) created a brutal plan to ethnically cleanse the whole area by destroying villages and planting mines. 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from the area. In 1967, Israel began occupying the few areas Palestine still had control over (Gaza, West Bank, Golan Heights). In the 1980s, the group Hamas was formed due to frustration in Gaza, where it remains even though Israel withdrew in 2005 (Israel still occupies the West Bank).
On October 7th, 2023, Hamas’s military invaded a music festival in Israel killing 260 people, and fired rockets towards central Israel. Israel retaliated with their rockets. The next day, Hamas took control of a police office in Sderot, Israel, killing 30 officers. The first missiles were fired from Lebanon the next day into northern Israel. Israel soon called for all civilians in Gaza City to evacuate to Egypt for their safety, although the borders to Egypt were closed. By this point, residents of Gaza are drinking contaminated water, and hospitals are in terrible condition. Hamas then claimed they had over 200 hostages, some from the Israeli music festival. The next day more than 500 died in Gaza after a hospital was bombed, which Israel denies responsibility for. Soon after, Biden arrived in Israel and reaffirmed his support for them.
Hamas in Gaza has readied 50,000 fighters, while Israel has mobilized over 400,000 who are waiting to go into Gaza and take down Hamas. On the same day, Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist group supporting Hamas, attacked a US military air base in Iraq and a military base in Syria. Things began to turn up in Gaza when a humanitarian aid truck from Egypt was allowed to enter and bring food, water, electricity, and fuel. On October 22nd, Israel accidentally fired a missile into the Egyptian border with Gaza. Israel continues to build forces near Gaza, and they can move in at any time, but Arab leaders have made a cease-fire plea to end civilian suffering and allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Most recently, an Israeli air strike has killed several people and destroyed a mosque near a refugee camp.
The conflict in Israel and Hamas is hectic and difficult for many to follow and understand. But hopefully, this brief analysis will deepen your understanding of the conflict and make it easier to follow new developments in Israeli and Palestinian territories.
